Jan. 25.—The camels moved off soon after eight; and we took shelter from the sun under the shade of some clumps, covered with high grass, near the wells, in order that the horses might drink at the moment of our departure. We had three or four long days to the next water; and the camels were too fatigued to carry more than one day’s food for the horses. While we were in this situation, two Arabs, who had gone on with the camels, came galloping back, to say that they had encountered two Tibboo couriers, on their way from Bornou to Mourzuk. They soon made their appearance, mounted on maherhies, only nine days from Kouka. They brought news that the Sheikh Kanemy had just returned from a successful expedition against the sultan of Begharmi; that he had attacked and routed a powerful tribe of Arabs, called la Sala; and that the sultan, on hearing this, had fled as before to the south side of the Great River, amongst the Kirdies. We proceeded on our route, which was along a continued desert; and at sun-set halted on the sand, without either wood or water, after twenty-four miles. The courier from Bornou to Mourzuk assured us, that he should not be more than thirty days on the road from where we left him. Since Sheikh Kanemy’s residence at Kouka, couriers have occasionally passed between Bornou and Mourzuk,—a circumstance before that event unknown. One of Kanemy’s wives and three children were in Mourzuk; and the Bashaw, in order to secure his perfect submission, refused to allow them to leave that place. The Tibboos are the only people who will undertake this most arduous service; and the chances are so much against both returning in safety, that one is never sent alone. The two men we had encountered were mounted on two superb maherhies, and proceeding at the rate of about six miles an hour. A bag of zumeeta (some parched corn), and one or two skins for water, with a small brass basin, with a wooden bowl, out of which they ate and drank, were all their comforts. A little meat, cut in strips and dried in the sun, called _gedeed_, is sometimes added to the store, which they eat raw; for they rarely light a fire for the purpose of cooking, although the want of this comfort during the nights, on approaching Fezzan, where the cold winds are sometimes biting after the day’s heat, is often fatal to such travellers. A bag is suspended under the tail of the maherhy, by which means the dung is preserved, and serves as fuel on halting in the night. Without a kafila, and a sufficient number of camels to carry such indispensables as wood and water, it is indeed a perilous journey.